Pak politicians have passed a bill that would exempt senior government ministers from contempt of court proceedings, a move seen as a bid to save the new prime minister from disqualification.The Supreme Court has given Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf until Thursday to indicate whether he will obey an order to ask Swiss authorities to reopen multi-million dollar corruption cases against the president.
The court dismissed Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ...
as prime minister on June 19 after convicting him of contempt in April for refusing to reopen the cases against
President Asif Ali Ten PercentZardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
The bill passed by the lower house of the Pak parliament on Monday night said senior government figures including the president, prime minister and ministers could not be found guilty of contempt for acts performed as part of their job.
The bill must be passed by the upper house and signed off by the president before it becomes law.
The main opposition party Pakistain Moslem League-N headed by former prime minister
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
boycotted the proceedings, but party front man Siddiqul Farooq condemned the new bill.
"Since it is designed and aimed to protect one person namely Asif Ali Zardari from accountability, therefore it has no constitutional, legal and moral effects," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Ashraf defended the bill, saying it would not obstruct anyone from doing their duties, nor would it make anyone a "holy cow".